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  3. Mineral Resource Data System (MRDS)

Black Butte Iron

Occurrence in Madison county in Montana, United States with commodity Iron
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Sections on this page
  1. Identification information
  2. Geographic coordinates
  3. Site location context
  4. Geographic areas
  5. Public Land Survey System information
  6. Commodities
  7. Materials information
  8. Alteration
  9. Host and associated rocks
  10. Nearby scientific data
  11. Geologic structures
  12. Ore body information
  13. Controls for ore emplacement
  14. Economic information about the deposit and operations
  15. Mining district
  16. Land status
  17. Ownership information
  18. Reserves and resources
  19. Links to other databases
  20. Bibliographic references
  21. General comments
  22. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10078287
MRDS ID W026546
Record type Site
Current site name Black Butte Iron
Alternate or previous names Standard Creek
Related records 10245829

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -111.7289, 44.89185 (WGS84)
Elevation 2438
Relative position 32 AIRLINE MILES SOUTH OF ENNIS, MT.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Madison(county)

Montana(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Granite Mountain(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

Hebgen Lake(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Ashton(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Madison(hydrologic unit)

Missouri Headwaters(hydrologic accounting unit)

Missouri Headwaters(hydrologic subregion)

Missouri(hydrologic region)

Federal lands

Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest(National Forest)

National Forest FS(Type of land area)

FS(Federal land areas administered by FS)

Geographic areas

Country State County
United States Montana Madison

Public Land Survey System information

Meridian Township Range Section Fraction State
Montana Principal 011S 001W 09 Montana

Comments on the location information

  • SECTION CORNERS NOT LOCATED - SECTION ESTIMATED

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Iron Primary

Comments on the commodity information

  • GRADE RANGES BETWEEN 25 AND 35 PERCENT FE

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Hematite Ore
Magnetite Ore
Hornblende Gangue
Quartz Gangue

Alteration

  • (Local) None

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Associated
    Rock type Sedimentary Rock > Chemical Sediment > Iron Formation
    Rock unit name Amphibolite Sills;Volcanic Flows
    Rock description Amphibolite Sills;Volcanic Flows
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Neoproterozoic
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Neoproterozoic
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Metamorphic Rock > Metasedimentary Rock > Quartzite
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Plutonic Rock
    Rock unit name Iron Formation;Cherry Creek Group
    Rock description Iron Formation;Cherry Creek Group

Nearby scientific data

(1) -111.7289, 44.89185
ListMap

Economic information

Geologic structures

Type of structure Regional
Structure description On East Side Of Gravelly Syncline

Ore body information

  • General form TABULAR
    Strike N 20 DEG W
    Dip 25 TO 35 DEG S
    Length 1828.8M
    Width 30.48M
    Depth to top 7.62M
    Depth to bottom 91.44M

Controls for ore emplacement

  • Folding

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Occurrence
Commodity type Metallic
Deposit size Medium
Significant No
Discovery year 1957

Mining district

District name Unorganized

Land status

Ownership category National Forest

Ownership information

  • Type Operator
    Owner U.S. Steel Corp
  • Type Owner
    Owner U.S. Steel Corp

Reserves and resources

  • Type In-situ
    Estimate year 1976
    Total resources 40816000mt ore
    Commodity Subtype Grade units Group Importance Year
    Iron Fe 27 wt-pct Iron Major 1976

Comments on the reserve resource information

  • THE CORE DRILLING BY U. S. STEEL ESTIMATES 90 MILLION TONS OF ORE TO 300 FT DEPTH.

Comments on the workings information

  • TWO OR MORE PARALLEL ORE HORIZONS OVER A MILE IN LENGTH AND 100 FT WIDE ARE DEVELOPED BY CORE DRILLING

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    BAYLEY R. W. & JAMES, H. L., 1973 , PRECAMBRIAN IRON FORMATIONS OF THE UNITED STATES: ECON. GEOL. V. 68 , NO. 7

  • Deposit

    CARR, M. S., GUILD, P. W., AND WRIGHT, W. B., 1967 , IRON IN THE UNITED STATES: USGS MR 51 WITH SECTION ON PRECAMBRIAN IRON FORMATIONS IN US BY BAYLEY, R. W., AND JAMES, H. L.

  • Deposit

    1965 GEOLMAP H. L. JAMES & K. L. WEIR GEOL. MAP (OPEN FILE)

  • Deposit

    USGS OPEN FILE REPORT, PRELIMINARY GEOLOGIC MAP OF BLACK BUTTE IRON DEPOSIT, 1965; SUMMARY OF INFORMATION ON IRON ORE, BITUMINOUS COAL, FLUORITE, & CHROMITE, MBMG UNPUBLISHED SUMMARY

  • Deposit

    1967 COMPILE CARR. GUILD & WRIGHT (BAYLEY & JAMES, PUB. REPORT

  • Deposit

    1969 COMPILE MBMG UNPUBLISHED SUMMARY REPORT

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit CORE DRILLING PROGRAM ACTIVE FROM 1971 TO 1975. U. S. STEEL APPLIED FOR PATENT ON A NUMBER OF LOCATED CLAIMS

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 01-MAY-1977 Johns, Willis M.; R. B. Berg U.S. Geological Survey

Beyond USGS

Supplemental information added by qvyshift.com. Not part of the original USGS MRDS record.

Operator history (post-MRDS)

MRDS records operators as of each record's last update (≤ 2019). Some of the operators listed here have since changed hands or dissolved:

  • U.S. Steel Corp — now part of United States Steel Corporation (2024)
    Mining operations largely divested over the late 20th century; the broader U.S. Steel entity was acquired by Nippon Steel in 2024 (mining footprint is now minimal).

Curated by qvyshift.com from publicly-reported M&A activity (SEC filings, press releases, USGS Mineral Yearbooks). Not authoritative — verify against primary sources before relying on it. The MSHA panel above is the current authoritative source for actively-permitted mines.

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